Erik and group:

I believe I am the poster who first brought up the condition of the neglected Kanawha at Lynchburg. I am delighted to see that the subject has been brought up with some ferocity and anger, because the neglect issue is something that can be handled and remedied. I will be going down to Lynchburg, especially to look at the locomotive next month. She has sister engines in Richmond and Newport News, and while both have been heavily vandalized, neither is beyond reclamation. I suspect taht the 2760 is in worse shape, but likewise reclaimable. The Richmond loco is to be moved to a University indoor museum, while the Newport News loco has undergone heavy cosmetic restoration. Ideally, each of these engines could see steam again, but in the meantime, it is incumbent upon the railroad history informed to petition the City of Lynchburg to preserve or relocate the locomotive. NEVER forward the opinion that a torch is the solution! There are lots of groups that will actively nuture the 2760 back to some semblence of it's glory days if they are given the engine and a promise that the efforts are not to be in vain.

Money is, of course, the answer. The British have no more enthusiasm than do we, but they have devised a means of public funding for steam locomotive preservation. Beyond finding "the millionaire with a good heart" or the public subscription, how can we help this locomotive? Let us do something to save her now, before the report is that somebody passed a motion to "eliminate a hazard to children".


glueck@saturn.caps.maine.edu

Richard,

That locomotive looks bad, but I definately agree with you that scrapping her is not the answer. In fact, I think a fresh coat of paint and some replacement parts would make a world of difference. Maybe I'm just optimistic, but I've seen engines that looked just as bad that are running today. A good example is the SV #19. She looked absolutely awful, but 4 years and $250,000 later she's absolutely georgeous. Always look on the bright side of things.

Thanks Again, Taylor

thrush@smt-net.com

Children should be exposed to hzards from early days to learn how to deal with them safely. Their parents need to take this responsibility as seriously as every other one. Any child that is kept swathed in a roll of cotton wool will never learn how not to get hurt or develop the thick skin to prevent everyday activities from causing damage. Once a child has been burned once, he will never stick his hand in the fire again.

Apart from that point, yes, she can be preserved, restored, or conserved. She can be made operable or static in whatever level of completeness. All it takes is will and adequate resources. Sometimes the will is the problem.

Several years ago, Jim Wrinn published an aticle in TRAINS exposing the park hulk in Charlotte as the worst in the country. Having crawled all over that consolidation, she was entirely repairable. A proposal was made for the Charlotte Mecklenburg Historic Landmarks Comission who had just gotten title to the last old station in town to restore it along with the trolley and move it to the station. The station would be adaptively reused and be served by the trolley as anchor to one end of the line.

13 years later she sits in a different part of the park, stripped of every cab appliance and protruding part on purpose. Sure, there is some new paint, but more damage was done trying to convert her to a jungle gym than by neglect since the late 1950s. The city tore out a bridge on the line necessary to connect to the trolley, the old bus garage located adjacent to the track and perfectly adaptable for use as the carbarn was demolished (they said it was cheaper to do that and build a new carbarn someday than keep it vacant for a couple years) and the station now houses bums, this time again by civic fiat rather than by just letting them congregate at no taxpayer expense.

Beware of letting governments get ahold of anything worth saving. I am convinced that compared to the meager power of the atomic bomb, bureaucracy is the most destructive force ever developed by mankind.

Dave

lathro19@idt.net

Erik's photos of the 2760 in its current state represent some of the hardest locomotive photos to obtain, in my experience. We certainly welcome similar photos and reports of other neglected engines at RyPN, which may spur interest in their welfare. More, Please!

Railway Preservation News
ryarger1@nycap.rr.com

Wes Barris has an excellent site for recording all the currently know locomotives, but I absolutely agree with you. The more locomotives we can accurately report on, the quicker they'll come to the attention of serious preservationists. Posting the pictures here is a good idea, then archiving them either with Wes Barris or at a new website dedicated to park locomotive preservation. Local railfans need to remember that scraping away rust, applying undercoating,repainting and greasing, will go a long way towards stopping the abuse of time and natural processes. Vandals are another issue, but even that is not insurmountable. I have found that civic authorities will often be glad to pay for the paint and materials if the labor is donated. Two cases in point; the C.N. Consolidation in Kamloops, B.C. is going to feel heat in her boiler again, and the LIRR G5's will eventually both get under steam once more. These events are due to the direct intervention of concerned railfans.

And remember to cap that stack!

glueck@saturn.caps.maine.edu

> Posting the pictures here is a good idea,
> then archiving them either with Wes Barris
> or at a new website dedicated to park
> locomotive preservation.

I'm going to take it from your statement that you haven't visited the RyPN links page very often. There are already several web sites out there that have the photos you're looking for.

My web pages have photos not only for Washington, but Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, Utah and Colorado. Some of the states aren't complete yet (someday on some vacation...).

Rob Jenkins has done an outstanding job on his web page at: http://ParkEngines.Railfan.net/

There are also a couple of other pages I know of but I'm not at home to look up the links bookmarked on my browser there.


Washington Steam Railroads and Locomotives
brianfr@speakeasy.org

I have also photographed park engines, many of them looking pretty sorry, in the Texas and Louisiana area (and elsewhere.) I featured them on two web pages, and they are linked both from Wes Barris' and Rob Jenkin's websites.

One of the purposes of "Surviving World Steam Locomotives is to document the location of steam locomotives worldwide, including photographs. (You can also add your own pictures to the database; you are not stuck with the pictures I have included.) Recently, I have translated a website that documents steam locomotives erected as monuments in the former Soviet Union; and have since added to it.

I have also received a CD-ROM of nearly 150 steam locomotive photographs (many of them park engines) that were taken by a "Surviving World Steam Locomotive" subscriber, and another CD-ROM from Europe with 250 pictures from around the world. In between these pictures, and the ones I have collected from the above mentioned websites and other sources, I have nearly 500 photographs in my copy of "Surviving World Steam Locomotives" for North America alone; nearly 25% of the total in existence.

The tools for finding and documenting them are in place already, you just have to take the time to use them.

> I'm going to take it from your statement
> that you haven't visited the RyPN links page
> very often. There are already several web
> sites out there that have the photos you're
> looking for.

> My web pages have photos not only for
> Washington, but Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, Utah
> and Colorado. Some of the states aren't
> complete yet (someday on some vacation...).

> Rob Jenkins has done an outstanding job on
> his web page at:
> http://ParkEngines.Railfan.net/

> There are also a couple of other pages I
> know of but I'm not at home to look up the
> links bookmarked on my browser there.


Surviving World Steam Locomotives
james1@pernet.net

Thanks! Actually that's Richard Jenkins. The major reason why I started the Surviving Steam Photo Archive (parkengines.railfan.net) was to document the condition of park engines and other survivors, showing the ones that need help (including 2760), as well as the ones that show what can be done when the will and the resources are there. Though I try not to be too scathing when I don't think an engine isn't getting the care it deserves, I do think the pictures generally speak for themselves. Brian's Washington State Steam Locomotives site was also a major inspiration.

> Rob Jenkins has done an outstanding job on
> his web page at:
> http://ParkEngines.Railfan.net/



Surviving Steam Photo Archive

rjenkins@railfan.net

> Beware of letting governments get ahold of
> anything worth saving. I am convinced that
> compared to the meager power of the atomic
> bomb, bureaucracy is the most destructive
> force ever developed by mankind.

> Dave

AGREED!!!!


ken.middlebrook@nsc.com

"Society in every state is a blessing, but Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one.".....Thomas Paine

Catfish Hollow Toys

In my request for photos, I did not mean to denigrate the sites that have such locomotive photos on them, in fact I have mentioned and linked to most of them in the News Briefs. What I'd like to see from RyPN readers for posting on our site are more photos, including detail of corrosion and deterioration, as well as observations on current condition and situation (physical and/or political) of the engine in question. When an old in-service photo or two is available. so much the better. Even better if one can suggest some realisticly achievable schemes for movement to better display sites when needed, plus suggestions for better sites/shelter, etc..

Railway Preservation News
ryarger1@nycap.rr.com

Richard, I didn't mean to forget your excellent site. If you are willing to post 'em, I'll send what I have available. I don't want you to get swamped under a flood of JPEG's, but if you've got the time and drive space, it's a service that will (I hope) pay dividends to railroad preservation.


glueck@saturn.caps.maine.edu